Request for impeachment of Bahr el Ghazal Youth Union (BYU) chairperson

From: Concerned BYU members

To: Bahr el-Ghazal Youth Union Councilors

19^th November, 2016

Dear Honourable Councilors,

Ref: REQUEST FOR IMPEACHMENT OF BAHR EL GHAZAL YOUTH UNION CHAIRPERSON

November 22, 2016 (SSB) —- We write to you all today with an acute sense of fear in our heart, for our beloved association, for our individual freedoms and for the supreme document of the association; the Constitution of Bahr El Ghazal Youth Union in Kenya (BYU). We have observed with simmering discontent that Celestino Maluak Deng Medjhack is clearly a pathetic leader because he has perverse and seditious personal agenda against the basic interests of BYU. He has committed violations and subversions of the Constitution of BYU in an attempt to carry out with impunity, offences against peace and cohesion and deprivations of the civil rights of the people of Bahr El Ghazal, by assuming powers of a dictatorial nature and commandeering powers of the Council, the executive and those reserved to the people of Bahr El Ghazal.

GROUNDS ON WHICH THE INCUMBENT BYU CHAIRMAN DESERVES TO BE IMPEACHED

The incumbent chairman Celestino Maluak Deng has unilaterally decided, clearly along the lines of his own interests;

• to legitimize the infringement of member’s rights,
• the compromising of the region’s integrity,
• the unwillingness to work in line with the South Sudan’s government decisions,
• the use of BYU on social media as a tool for condemning government decisions and welcoming contentious issues, and releasing of statements which are likely to cause incitements and chaos among the members
• the refusal to amend the constitution as demanded by the Council,
• the sole transactions of finances of the association,
• passing of resolutions without consent from Executive members and the Council
• the defamation of former leaders of B.Y.U,
• the libeling of the Electoral Commission,
• the appointment of family members to positions of power with no regard to geographical and ethnic diversity, and
• the subsequent defilement of the constitution of BYU with the aim of seizing power which are currently becoming the norm, rather than the exception, under his leadership.

WE find ourselves compelled to urge you to put this behind us; to protect the rights of everyone before it is too late by impeaching this vacuous chairman whose greatest source of joy is the total defilement of our constitution; and the infliction upon us all of a rigid, hypocritical, hate-filled ideology, where one selfish leader can impose his will on those who do not think and/ or believe as he does. This kind of leadership is illegal according to the Constitution of BYU Article 7 and 8.

THE incumbent chairman Maluak Deng has been waging illegal wars with personal interests against members of the association in a manner that is not in line with the procedures prescribed in the constitution. In essence, he has turned the association into a tool of achieving his personal interests and revenge against his political nemesis. On 18^th November – 2016, he wrote a letter to all the managements of meeting halls/chambers in town and to the Central Police of Kenya. In that letter, he described the concerned BYU members as illegal. According to Article 14 of the constitution of BYU, RIGHTS, DUTIES AND OBLIGATIONS OF MEMBERS Section A (3), (7), (4) and B (6), (10); Maluak’s deliberate targeting of members’ freedoms constitutes an obvious dictatorial violation of the Constitution and is punishable offence by law.

WITHAL, the incumbent chairman Celestino Maluak has in many occasions usurped and subverted the powers of the Council, Executive and the members of B.Y.U. Such a dictatorial nature of leadership is unconstitutional and therefore serves as a tool of disuniting the members of B.Y.U. In the most recent scenarios, the incumbent chair has passed resolutions without consent from the Executive and Council. Such resolutions include but not limited to; the illegal auditing of the former B.Y.U officials, formation of committees without the Council’s endorsement and signing BYU’s financial documents singly. It is a total violation for respect of another officer’s roles. According to our Constitution, Article 17 (Section 2) and (Section 3) are very lucid in explaining the roles of each of the officers under B.Y.U; Maluak has totally undermined the roles of other officers as clearly stipulated.

TO explain further, his interference with the job descriptions of the Executive members of B.Y.U as well as the Councilors by illegally auditing the former officials including but not limited to the former B.Y.U Executive body and the Ad Hoc Electoral Commission, is per se unconstitutional. The supreme document is very clear about the people who have powers to audit as well as the procedures of auditing and inspecting the books of account. According to Article 23 of the constitution of BYU, the association must have 2 auditors who will be appointed from the Council by the Executive and shall not be members of the Executive Committee but shall be members of the general assembly. Article 24 states that only the 2 auditors, donors and/ or partners are the people empowered to inspect the books of account.

ARTICLE 23: AUDITING

1. At the General annual Meeting, two auditors from the council shall be recommended and then appointed by the Executive Committee for one (1) year. They shall be eligible for the task if they are known to be competent in financial issues.
2. The auditors shall not be members of the Executive Committee but shall be members of the general assembly or the council.

• The auditors shall have a right to examine at least once a year the cash balance, records and the union assets of the last and the current year.

1. A copy of the audited report on the accounts and statements shall be sent to all members together with the notice conveying the audited report.

ARTICLE 24: INSPECTION OF BOOKS OF ACCOUNT

BYU books of account, documents, assets and liabilities related thereto shall be subject to inspection at the offices of the BYU by the auditors and Donors/Partners on giving not less than seven (7) day’s notice in writing to the BYU Finance Secretary.

THE OATH DURING THE SWEARING IN OF THE CHAIRMAN

1. I will represent the union members and not my personal interests;
2. I will respect and aspire towards achieving the union’s objectives;
3. I will work towards the welfare of every member of the union;

THE chairman with total disregard for the constitution defiled the law and the procedures prescribed by the constitution. Instead of representing the interests of all the stakeholders of Bahr El Ghazal Youth Union and being capable, willing and ready to make decisions that go beyond his own interests and political ideology, he was busy satisfying his personal whims fueled by revenge and a persistent shortage of ideas. These include but not limited to using of B.Y.U as a tool of voicing his personal concerns out on social media and other social forums. One of the conspicuous evidences is the use of facebook to condemn and challenge the government of South Sudan, and also using it to welcome decisions that are contentious and may spark chaos.

WITH these disturbing offences and belligerent defilement of the constitution, it is fitting to conclude that Maluak’s interests are against the best interests of BYU as stated in article 6, 10 and 11 of the constitution of BYU.

ARTICLE 6: THE MISSION

The mission of BYU is to promote and assess the welfare and unity of the Bhar El Ghazal youth and South Sudanese as a whole in every aspect of socio economic development.

ARTICLE 10: THE SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION

This Constitution is the supreme law of BYU and has the force of law throughout BYU and if any law is inconsistent with this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail and the other law shall to the extent of its inconsistency, be declared null and void. 

ARTICLE 11: SOVEREIGNITY OF THE MEMBERS

1. This constitution gives the ultimate authority and sovereignty to all the registered members of greater Bahr El Ghazal;
2. Authority belongs to the members of BYU and may be exercised only in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.

THE impeachment process was created to protect the association from despotism. It is the duty of the Councilors to impeach renegade and/ or outlaw leaders and you certainly have one today. The incumbent chairman Celestino Maluak Deng Medjhack has trampled on the Constitution on several occasions and committed many impeachable offences against the stakeholders of this association. Ignoring protocol, the will of the citizens of Bahr El Ghazal and most frightening of all, the Constitution of Bahr El Ghazal Youth Union.

WE are therefore calling upon all councilors to impeach Maluak in order to protect the rights of all stakeholders, to protect the association as well as its constitution. In view of the general principles of BYU number 2, 5, 7, 9 and 10, the vacuous incumbent chairperson deserves to be impeached.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND VALUES OF BYU

BYU shall be governed by the following principles and values throughout its existence;

1. Impartially BYU makes no any discrimination as to race, religion, beliefs, sex, class or political opinions when a member in registering its members;
2. Transparency; BYU shall conduct its policies and operations in an open and inclusive manner. Youth associations of Bahr El Ghazal at states level are pro-active at all levels of carrying out the program activities including the dissemination of information from the members under BYU shall exercise their sovereign authority through the representatives (council, executive committee and delegates) from all their respective states and counties.
3. Democracy; The leadership of BYU shall be democratically elected by the general assembly to be entrusted with various positions of responsibility and authority. The union has the utmost respect the right of majority and recognition for the opinion of minority.
4. Good governance; BYU shall be a role model in promoting good leadership and ensure tolerance and respect for co-existence amongst the members of Bahr El Ghazal;

Bottom to the top and vice versa, full transparency shall therefore be applied to all beneficiaries and the community members in consultation at all levels of BYU;

10. Inclusiveness; the highest possible degree of inclusive setting is to be sought in overall BYU’s operations in serving the Bahr El Ghazal youth and to ensure equal counties representation.

WE respectfully request that you consider the Impeachment of the incumbent BYU chairman Celestino Maluak Deng Medjhack with immediate effect for consistently being an evangelist of disunity and making malicious decisions in the execution of his official duties. His administration has manipulated the association and turned it into a tool of achieving personal interests which is in total conflict with the principles of democracy and the rule of law. The list of his betrayal of the people of Bahr El Ghazal and the Constitution continues to grow and if we allow this individual to persist with his redundancy, perverseness, seditiousness, subversiveness, revenge attacks, and malicious leadership ideologies, then it is just as good as killing the association ourselves.

ARTICLE 17 (section E): Disqualification of the members of the Executive Committee

Members of the Executive Committee shall cease to hold office if one;

1. Is removed from office by a resolution duly under this constitution.
2. misuses or abuses powers delegated to them by this constitution
3. Used discriminatory uttering or policies of divisive nature.

VII. Is seen to work towards defeating the objectives of the Union

We urge you as an appointed official to do what is right and support the Articles of Impeachment put forward by us, concerned members of B.Y.U.

Regards,

Signature:

1. AYUEL TAUPINY MALEK —————————–
2. STOIC JUIRKANG —————————————

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PaanLuel Wël

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PaanLuel Wël is the founder and editor-in-chief of PaanLuel Wël Media Ltd, a news website that covers news, opinions, analysis, history, culture and literature of South Sudan and the world. Founded in July 2011 by PaanLuel Wël to create a platform for free expression and constructive dialogue, the website features articles from various contributors, including columnists, commentators, poets, authors, activists and academics. PaanLuel Wël believes that media can play a vital role in informing, educating and empowering the people to participate in nation-building and social transformation. He also believes that media can foster a culture of dialogue, tolerance and diversity among different communities and groups, and hopes to inspire and mentor the next generation of South Sudanese writers and journalists.

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